Mullin: Popular and credible to large swaths of the Warriors fan base. Rowell: None of that, in any way, shape or frown.

But Mullin vs. Rowell is developing into a Rowell landslide because the team president isn't merely Mullin's opponent in this intensifying front-office showdown.

As it stands now in the Warriors' hierarchy, Rowell is the boss, negotiator, banker, judge, jury, arbitrator and Supreme Court majority.

So, pending something large occurring while the Warriors hang out in China this week (two executives leave for China"... only"... one"... comes back!), Rowell is king of the Warriors.

Unless Rowell is dethroned or Chris Cohan de-owned, it's likely that Mullin will either leave after his contract expires in June or that he will be forced to sign a new Warriors deal on Rowell's terms.

Knowing Mullin, that last part seems exceedingly unlikely.

Knowing Mullin, he probably has another plan: Force public pressure on Rowell and Cohan and maybe gin up interest from the 20 percent minority owners, either to try to buy out Cohan or talk some sense into him.

If Rowell shoves Mullin aside, he'd better have a plausible alternative ready to go (Don Nelson probably would do the job, but I don't think he wants it) and he'd better have Cohan completely behind him.

If Mullin gets his bluff called, he'd better have another job option.

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OK, before we get any further, let's try to figure out how these two got to this point"...

The Mullin part is easy: He's a franchise all-time great who was brought in and groomed by Rowell and Cohan to save the Warriors from the Garry St. Jean/Dave Twardzik years, and that's what Mullin has done — to mixed results — since 2004.

Mullin isn't the most feared G.M. in the league, but he's certainly respected.

Rowell is a money guy who attracted Cohan's attention when Rowell was an assistant athletic director at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. That is not Cohan's alma mater, but it's where he has family roots and where he donated $2.1 million for a performing arts building thoughtfully named Christopher Cohan Center.

After a few flow-chart stops, Rowell was named team president and voice of the owner in 2003, a year before Mullin moved to the executive vice president slot.

Have they been buddies the whole time? No. They both have their personality quirks and their own set of office allies.

But they worked well together until about two summers ago. That's when, as best as I can understand it, Rowell began to chafe at Mullin receiving the lion's share of credit for the franchise-altering 2007 playoff run.

Did Rowell have a right to be bothered? Only he and Mullin know for sure. I think Rowell was a smart voice in Mullin's ear during the dumping of Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Derek Fisher and Adonal Foyle. The rest of the stuff, I don't know.

But, well-founded or not, Rowell's anger was communicated to Mullin, and the tension built. Rowell acted on his feelings by assuming more and more authority on the basketball operations, including some direct negotiations with players.

And now, Mullin's contract is coming up, and Rowell is playing hardball, as Rowell almost always does. Like he did with Mikael Pietrus, Matt Barnes and even this summer and fall with Baron Davis and Monta Ellis.

Remember, Mullin is a player at heart, and he hated when moneymen made his teammates squirm and beg for the last dollar.

I think Mullin fears that the Warriors could turn back into an unfriendly place for players — back to the days when no free agents ever wanted to come to the East Bay.

Last June, Mullin had a tentative three-year, $39 million extension set up with Davis, until Rowell vetoed it and off Davis went to the Clippers.

More recently, Mullin stressed to Cohan and Rowell that Ellis' scooter accident was just an accident and should be forgiven. But Rowell fined Ellis $3 million and said there might be more punishment later.

And in doing so, Rowell went out of his way to note that Mullin argued for leniency and that his position was disregarded.

No hugs are forthcoming. It's all brass-knuckle negotiations and political theater now, which is precisely where Rowell thrives.

Rowell might end up with a G.M. who can't do the job, or Rowell might fail at the job himself; but at this moment, in this struggle, Rowell is beating Mullin. But will it be worth it?